Some time ago, we learned that DC Comics was planning a 5G ("Generation 5") reboot which was set to once again shake up the DC Universe. Controversially, this newly launched timeline would have seen all the major characters aged up, with Jonathan Kent as the new Superman, Luke Fox the new Batman, and Captain Cold Jr. the new Flash (to name just a few examples).
While that may have initially attracted new readers, it likely would have aliened a lot of long-time fans and hurt sales, similar to what happened when Marvel Comics made certain "legacy" heroes the new Captain America, Iron Man, and Thor. While their introduction gave Marvel Studios plenty of new options, it didn't take long for the original versions to make their return.
During this weekend's DC FanDome, DC Comics Publisher Jim Lee made it clear that 5G is "not going to happen." He explains, "there won't be a project called '5G', or a big reboot, or whatever. We really want to focus on individual titles, and organically build up individual characters over the course of the next year."
"We had a lot of great ideas that we were floating around," Lee explains. "And rather than dumping it all in one month and renumbering the line and going for that really short term spike in sales, we just naturally gravitated to the story ideas and concepts we love and building them into the mythology, the ongoing mythology, in a very organic way."
One example of what Lee is talking about is the Batman limited series John Ridley is writing which will follow Luke Fox's Batman in an alternate DC Universe (continuity is no longer being strictly adhered to, likely to make titles easier for readers to follow without feeling the need to buy a dozen books).
Needless to say, it should be interesting to see how DC Comics' plan continues to develop.
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